A computer system is disclosed in these parent applications which can process alphanumeric information as well as many different computer commands from a keyboard having only twelve to sixteen keys. That is achieved by providing several modes of operation of the keys in the keyboard, typically a single stroke per entry decimal calculating mode and a two key stroke entry alphanumeric data processing mode which incorporates a significant number of computer commands.
In the portable electronic computer art, generally providing pocket sized general purpose computing capabilities with programmable computer systems, the art has developed in a manner requiring a large number of keyboard keys. Particularly where alphanumeric capabilities are required for data processing purposes, typewriter style keyboards are the most common. Thus, the number of keys often exceed forty. Even for arithmetic calculators as many as forty-five keys are provided to cover some of the many command functions available with modern computer chips in pocket sized calculators. The above parent applications have taken a direction contrary to the rest of the art in reducing the number of keys on a computer keyboard without sacrifice of the wide range of operations that the computer can perform.
A typical prior art example is the Casio fx-7000G programmable scientific calculator having a keyboard array of forty-five keys and boasting a large display screen. In fact this display screen occupies less than one-third of the front panel surface area since it must share space with the many keyed keyboard. Thus display space is so limited by keyswitch space that there is limited room for graphical displays and thus either graph detail or size is limited.
There is no known portable pocket sized programmable computer having word processing capability, primarily because there has not been enough display room available on the front panel because of the need for a large number of keyboard keys to process alphanumeric data as well as the various computer command functions necessary to operate a word processing operation.
Accordingly it is an objective of this invention to provide programmable portable electronic computers with enlarged electronic display panels affording with associated computer capabilities the capacity to display graphical information and alphanumeric data for word processing.